


mercury skies

by demonglass



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Video Game World, Competition, M/M, Rivals to Lovers, donghyuck has a good heart, genre-appropriate character injury, genre-appropriate drama, jumanji inspired, peril but the sexy kind, rivals to teammates?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:54:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,557
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25114222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/demonglass/pseuds/demonglass
Summary: The first rule of the game is that you can only look out for yourself. Donghyuck has always been terrible at following the rules.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Na Jaemin
Comments: 36
Kudos: 50





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh hi ~ this was supposed to be a drabble for twitter but i got carried away so now here we are . enjoy?
> 
> minor warning? there are spiders in this chapter and they are Big but i dont go into much detail about them! idk if that could be a problem for anyone but i thought i would mention it!

This game isn't made for the soft-hearted, for the fools who don't know how to put themselves first. The game is about competition, about survival, about ruthlessly clawing your way to the top. Donghyuck knows this. He knows this, knows how to play, has trained for this for years. Donghyuck _knows_ , and yet when he hears a scream echo through the night, he freezes.

No one enters the game expecting help when they run into trouble. No one competes without knowing the rules, the stakes, the consequences. Whoever is out there, somewhere deep in the woods, knew exactly what they were signing up for when they joined. It shouldn't matter. It _shouldn't_ . Donghyuck has himself to worry about, himself to keep alive, _himself_ to get to the final boss so he can finally secure his first win. He shouldn't feel his heart twist, his stomach drop.

But he does. 

Years of training haven't hardened him the way they should've. He ignores the voice in his head yelling for him to keep on his path and get back to his protection ward. He hears the scream come again and instead of reason, he listens to the crying of his weak heart. 

Donghyuck breaks course.

The grass underfoot, the wispy fog crawling across the plains, it all falls away behind him as he dives headfirst into the forest and runs towards the sound of the screams, runs right into danger.

Renjun will have his head for this if he makes it back in one piece, will _never_ let him hear the end of it if this backfires - _actually_ , the voice in his head notes, _if this backfires, Renjun might not_ ever _get the chance to scold him -_ but Donghyuck's feet pound against the ground and he doesn't listen.

It doesn't take as long as he'd thought it would, to start to hear noises in the woods that aren't his own pounding footsteps, his own haggard breath, his own racing heart. The cover of the trees thickens, blocking out the pale light of the moon, and Donghyuck hears clicking, grunting, the sound of twigs snapping and leaves rustling. He slows his pace, head on a swivel and eyes wide and focused.

And then he reaches it. The trees thin again as he comes upon a sharp slant in the forest- a rocky outcropping that leads up to a higher level of the woods. And there, backed up against the stone wall, is Na Jaemin, surrounded by a swarm of spiders the size of large dogs.

Donghyuck's breath catches in his throat and he comes to an abrupt halt, staring at the scene before him, at the spiders closing in on Jaemin even as he clutches his dual swords and injures any that get too close to him.

Suddenly there's another choice to make. Jaemin is one of the toughest opponents Donghyuck has faced, and they've gone up against each other countless times in training. More than once, Jaemin has tried to sabotage Donghyuck, and Donghyuck has never shied away from returning the favor. If Jaemin gets taken out now, it'll be one less thing for Donghyuck to worry about, one fewer opponent to fight against.

But Donghyuck doesn't know how many times Jaemin has regenerated already- can't make out the marks on his wrist in the murky light of the forest washed in night. There's the ever-present danger that this could be his last life, that if he dies here in the game, he'll die for _real._

Donghyuck hesitates only a moment, because as soon as he gets a good look at Jaemin's pale face, tight with terror, he knows that there's really no choice to make after all.

So he burst into motion again. There are too many spiders to take out on his own, so he skirts the clearing and scrambles up a gentler incline, pulling himself up to the flat strip of stone atop the outcropping Jaemin is pressed flat against. He grabs one of the weapons from his belt and expands it to full size.

"Grab my staff!" Donghyuck shouts over the edge, bracing himself in a divot in the rock so Jaemin doesn't just pull him over when he tries to help him up.

But Jaemin doesn't move, seems to be frozen where he stands.

" _Na Jaemin!_ " Donghyuck shouts again. "I’m trying to fucking help you!"

At this, finally, Jaemin flinches. He glances up at Donghyuck, eyes cast a dark silver, like molten lead, swirling with fear.

"Come on!" Donghyuck urges.

There's a beat of hesitation. Jaemin tears his gaze away and slashes out again at the encroaching hoard of spiders. For a moment, Donghyuck can only stare in disbelief as it seems like Jaemin is _rejecting_ his offer of help. But then Jaemin sheathes his swords in one swift motion and spins around, away from the spiders. His hands close around Donghyuck's staff, and he jumps up at the same time Donghyuck drops all his weight backwards to haul Jaemin up.

The scales tip. Donghyuck falls onto his back as his staff and Jaemin both lurch up from the ground. As the word spins and rushes away, Donghyuck sees Jaemin come up over the edge of the outcropping, and he gets half a second of satisfaction before he hits the ground so hard his teeth chatter and white-hot pain shoots up his spine. A loud grunt bursts from him, and it mixes in the air with the cry Jaemin lets out when he crashes to his knees, nearly on top of Donghyuck.

" _Fuck_ ," one of them curses, and in his daze, Donghyuck honestly doesn't know who it is.

Nevertheless, he doesn't have the luxury of dwelling on his pain, and rolls over with a grimace, pushing himself back to his feet and steadying himself with his staff. "Come on," he gasps to Jaemin, still struggling to his feet. "We have to run." Because even in the darkness, Donghyuck can see the reaching spider legs at the rock's edge, and he knows that the spawned monsters won't give up without a fight.

Jaemin's movements seem sluggish, and he's not quick enough, so Donghyuck shrinks his staff back down and grabs one of Jaemin's hands, dragging him up with a harsh tug that has him stumbling forward on shaky feet. "There's no time," Donghyuck hisses at the fear-twisted look on Jaemin's face. And then he takes off running, pulling Jaemin along after him.

They scramble away from the flat top of the outcropping and race deeper into the woods. Donghyuck isn't entirely sure where they're going, just that it's _away._ He needs to be careful, though, because the woods could be filled with danger, and the only safe place he can count on is his own protection ward, waiting who knows how far away now.

"Do you have a safety ward set up somewhere?" Donghyuck demands as they run, chest heaving with the effort of speaking on top of everything else. He half expects some kind of fight from Jaemin, some kind of _as if I'd ever tell you_ , even with their current situation. But none comes, just Jaemin's panic-laced voice saying _by the water_.

Something a whisper away from relief hits Donghyuck, makes him tighten his grip around Jaemin's sweaty hand and push himself harder. _By the water_. Jaemin must mean the lake that has already flooded and receded once, leaving behind a thick marsh that few competitors or spawned monsters dare cross. And while the lowlands are the last place Donghyuck would ever lay a protection ward of his own, in that moment it's perfect, because the lake is just on the other side of the woods, much closer than where Donghyuck has established a base for himself.

So they run. The sound of scurrying following them through the forest as they dodge low branches and veer around thick trunks doesn't grow quieter, but with every step, they get closer to escaping, closer to safety.

By some miracle, the woods begin to thin, and they haven't run into any new challenges. Perhaps the game thinks an angry horde of spiders alone is enough challenge for the middle of the night, but whatever the reason for the quiet of the woods, Donghyuck accepts it gladly.

His chest heaves with effort as he and Jaemin break free from the deep darkness of the woods and careen forwards into the milky moonlight and thickening fog by the lake. He feels two seconds away from collapsing, _has_ felt like this since the second he first started running, but just there, a dozen or so meters across the marsh, he sees the hazy glow of a ward.

"There!" Jaemin gasps.

One last burst of strength, of burning adrenaline, courses through Donghyuck, and he carries on. Twigs and fallen leaves snap and crunch under the dozens of feet chasing them, but as Donghyuck takes his first steps into the sinking earth of the marsh, he knows the sounds mean that the spiders haven't made it out of the woods yet.

Then his feet slide in the mud, and suddenly Jaemin is gripping his hand with startling strength, slowing him down so he can lead him through the mud as quickly as possible without falling. "Sinkholes," Jaemin chokes out, shaking even as he tugs Donghyuck sharply behind him so he doesn't tread where he shouldn't.

Donghyuck swallows hard and lets himself be led towards Jaemin's ward. He tries not to think about the symphony of splashes growing behind his back as the spiders reach the marsh and dive in without hesitation. The sounds get louder and louder, almost deafening when paired with the clicking of enlarged pincers, and Donghyuck feels his heart compress in his chest, feels fear start to strangle him because the spiders are almost on top of them again, and they're still not quite to the ward.

" _Hurry_ ," he gasps as a splash of water hits the back of his legs. There's panic in his voice then, and he sounds just like Jaemin had when Donghyuck'd first found him. Donghyuck still has all three of his life-marks on his wrist, but even three doesn't feel like enough in the game when danger presses in on all sides. When he has no idea what kinds of monsters and challenges he’ll still have to face before the end of the game. In the game, each life is too precious to waste.

Jaemin picks up speed at the urgency in Donghyuck’s voice, and their hurried steps grow clumsier. They've almost reached the glowing ward when Donghyuck takes one step wrong and slips, almost falling into the ground he knows is just waiting to swallow him up whole.

There's half a cry on his lips, but before it springs free, Jaemin _yanks_ his arm, and his momentum shifts. He crashes into Jaemin's back and knocks them both off-balance. Jaemin manages two stumbling steps forward and then loses traction and all balance, and they collapse forward together.

The cry finally rips free from Donghyuck's throat, and he tenses before the impact. As soon as it comes, as they slam into the ground and the air is punched clean out of Donghyuck's lungs, he feels his legs give out. He can't move. The spiders are almost on them, and they're going to tear him apart because he can't _move_.

Another cry, weaker and defeated this time, slips out of Donghyuck, and he does all he can: curls around Jaemin and tries to cover him with his body, all tense muscles braced for the onslaught of spiders. At least, maybe if they get him first and are distracted, Jaemin will be able to make it to safety and this whole foolish endeavor will have been a little bit worth it.

But Jaemin groans under him and there is no attack. Donghyuck lifts his head from Jaemin's chest and forces his screwed shut eyes to open. He looks up and sees that the game world around him is hazy, slightly off-color. He’s seeing it through the barrier of the ward.

Donghyuck goes limp with disbelief, with relief so heavy it weighs him down such that he can't even hold his own head up. "Oh my god," he breathes, the words choked and wet.

They made it.

Because here is the one certainty the game allows its players: that no attackers from the outside can hurt you within a protection ward.

They made it. He's safe. They're both safe. It wasn't for nothing.

Donghyuck saved Jaemin and then Jaemin saved him.

He swallows back a sob as Jaemin wheezes under him, his heart hammering away under Donghyuck's ear. Donghyuck musters what little strength he has left and forces his head up a centimeter. He meets Jaemin's eyes, wide and spooked and mirroring the moonlight. Something seizes in his chest.

What the fuck do they do now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was actually based on an idea i had a few months ago that i never wrote bc it seemed like it would get Very Out of Hand (and i was right hooray for me lol) but what i'm Saying is that there is More of the story hiding in my brain.... so if u want a second part to this i might be about that at some point~ let me know and i guess sub to this work if u want a notif if/when it does get a second part?? idk


	2. Chapter 2

The adrenaline drains away all at once, like a plug has been pulled. In its place, shock sets in. Donghyuck can  _ see  _ it flood Jaemin's face, can  _ feel  _ it take over his body.

Donghyuck rolls off of Jaemin, barely notices that he doesn't sink in the muddy earth like he'd expected. His eyes are stuck on Jaemin's, wide as saucers and lost somewhere far away.

"Jaemin," he says, pushing himself up so he can lay a hand on Jaemin's chest and try to snap him out of whatever he's fallen into. Jaemin doesn't respond, just keeps staring up at the steel night sky.

" _ Jaemin _ ," Donghyuck hisses again, more force in the name. He presses his hand into Jaemin's chest, but all it does is let him feel the racing of Jaemin's heart, tripping and stumbling and far too fast to mean anything good.

Donghyuck screws up his face, thinking. He's never had to help anyone like this. He doesn't know what the hell he's supposed to do.

And then Jaemin starts to tremble, his whole body shaking. The danger from the game is gone, but Jaemin isn’t calming down, and panic starts to grip Donghyuck again. He kneels over Jaemin and hooks his arms under Jaemin's shoulders, ignoring the protests of his body as he hauls Jaemin up so he’s sitting.

The emptiness in Jaemin's eyes is washed out by fear as he comes up to face the world that lies beyond the protection of his ward. The trembling worsens, like strong winds have blown across the lowlands and they're just leaves, caught in it.

"Jaemin," Donghyuck tries again. Again, it has no effect. Jaemin looks past Donghyuck like he can't see him at all. The look in his eyes is so haunted Donghyuck almost wishes  _ he  _ was the one who couldn't see what's right in front of him.

_ What the hell has gotten to Jaemin this much? _

Donghyuck doesn't have time to figure it out; all he knows is that Jaemin can't carry on with the game if he’s like this, and if Donghyuck's already gone this far to help Jaemin, he might as well follow all the way through. 

So he keeps trying to bring Jaemin back from wherever his mind has gone. He drops Jaemin's shoulders, and before Jaemin slumps over, Donghyuck moves so his own body holds Jaemin up. He takes Jaemin's face in his hands, trying to remember to be gentle, but not sure if he succeeds.

" _ Na Jaemin _ !" Donghyuck says again, voice nearly a shout.

Finally, Jaemin blinks, flinches a bit. Recognition flickers in his eyes and he stops looking past Donghyuck, towards the dangers that lay beyond him.

"Jaemin," Donghyuck says on an exhale of relief, "Jaemin, you're okay. You're safe. We made it back to your ward. Okay? Nothing's going to hurt you in here."

Jaemin blinks again, swallows, lets out a heavy, shaking breath. He's still trembling under Donghyuck's hands.

"Can you hear me?" Donghyuck asks, searching Jaemin's eyes.

Jaemin nods, just a small, jerky movement, but it's enough.

Another swell of relief catches in Donghyuck's throat, and it forces out the panic. It leaves Donghyuck with little more than his aching body and still pounding heart.

"Are you okay?" Donghyuck manages to choke out. “What happened? What’s… what’s wrong?”

Jaemin swallows hard again, still limp as a rag doll against Donghyuck. "I-" his voice is rough and barely audible. "The spiders," he whispers.

And suddenly it all makes sense- how Na Jaemin, one of the toughest competitors, was reduced to this so early on in the game. "Oh," he breathes, and his grip on Jaemin's face eases without him fully realizing.

Donghyuck's heard rumors that the game can read the players, can generate specific challenges meant to incapacitate even the strongest competitors. He hadn't thought they were true, but the terror he'd seen in Jaemin's eyes in the woods and the shock gripping him now makes Donghyuck think that the rumors weren't just spread around to scare the rookies.

"Well, you're safe now," Donghyuck says. "They can't get to you here. They're already gone." He tilts his head back so Jaemin can see for himself that the marsh is empty again, nothing breathing but the two of them.

Jaemin presses his lips together, eyes darting around the darkened expanse of the lowlands surrounding them.

"You okay?" Donghyuck asks again.

Jaemin looks back to him, and his eyes still seem gray, still swirl with uncertainty, but he nods. The trembling of his body doesn't stop, but it eases just a little bit. Donghyuck doesn't know what to say anymore, doesn't have the will to fight the burning of his muscles to move just yet, so he simply stays where he is, hands pillowed against Jaemin's cheeks. He stays and stares into Jaemin's eyes and gets lost in how deep they are.

He's never been this close to Jaemin before, never realized there was more hiding under the surface of his confident facade. He probably should have guessed, but it's easier to play the game when you don't think about the humanity of your competition.

Somehow, as he stares, he can feel Jaemin looking at him the same, focusing on him to keep from slipping back into memories of the woods, of whatever he'd been through before Donghyuck found him. As time passes, and Jaemin pulls himself together, his gaze sharpens, and Donghyuck can feel himself being dissected by Jaemin's dark, shadowed eyes.

It takes him too long to realize he doesn't need to be holding Jaemin's face anymore. It takes him too long to remember that this was a terrible decision, that the game isn't  _ designed  _ for competitors to help each other.

He lets his hands fall away from Jaemin's cheeks and tucks them together in his lap, swallowing down the confusion that tries to rise within him.

Jaemin blinks, and his eyes bore into Donghyuck. "Why did you help me?" His voice is still  _ off _ , but it's clearer than before.

"I-" Donghyuck hesitates "-I heard you scream. Followed the sound."

"But why did you help me?" Jaemin asks again, because Donghyuck hasn't answered the question. "You're not supposed to. You could have died."

Donghyuck's insides twist up and he feels slightly sick. "I just..." he gulps, tries to think of something other than the answer on the tip of his tongue.  _ I saw your face and just stopped thinking.  _ "I didn't know if you were on your last life." This much  _ is  _ true, at least.

Jaemin exhales, lifts his left wrist and looks down to it. Donghyuck's eyes track the movement, and he sees the three thick black marks stamped into Jaemin's skin. It's a mirror of Donghyuck's own wrist.

"Oh," Donghyuck breathes.

Jaemin runs still trembling fingers across the life lines, and Donghyuck unthinkingly touches his own. His movements all feel slow now, like he's sitting with a wild animal, like anything done too quickly will snap the fragile peace between them. He's in uncharted territory, doesn't know where he stands with Jaemin, doesn't know where he's  _ supposed  _ to stand now.

When he looks back up to meet Jaemin's eyes again, there's something in them that he doesn't recognize, can't quite figure out. There's careful calculation, the ghost of memories still haunting him, and that  _ something  _ more.

"Thank you," Jaemin says lowly. "It was unbelievably stupid, but thank you for helping me."

Donghyuck nods, doesn't know what to say to that.  _ Yeah, it was moronic, I know _ . It doesn't feel right to say  _ you're welcome,  _ either, because Jaemin had turned around and helped him too. “Thanks for not letting me die either.”

Donghyuck isn't sure what they owe to each other now. Isn't sure whether Jaemin feels the same unease that he does at the thought of fighting later on down the line.

"You should stay here," Jaemin says, though there's uncertainty laced through his voice. "I mean, you don't really look like you can make it back to your ward for the night, and you'll be safe here. You can leave whenever you want but... you should stay until you're rested."

Donghyuck watches Jaemin watch him, waiting for an answer. He doesn't find any dishonesty in his eyes, on his face. Jaemin's never been one to lie- Donghyuck knows that much, at least. Jaemin has never pulled verbal punches, never pulled  _ any  _ punches.

Now Jaemin is a contradiction, and Donghyuck knows he's the reason why, knows he's one as well. He knows there's nothing to do but take Jaemin at his word, like he has every time Jaemin’s promised to rain hell on him in simulations before this.

If Jaemin is trusting him, then Donghyuck can return the favor.

Besides, there's something about this, about Jaemin, that makes Donghyuck  _ want  _ to trust him. Even if it's a terrible idea, even if it goes against everything they've learned in training, even if it could come back to royally haunt him later on, Donghyuck decides to trust Jaemin. He realizes it's a choice he's already made.

The second he let Jaemin step in front of him and lead the way through the marsh, Donghyuck put his trust in Jaemin. So there's nothing to do but nod and whisper his thanks to Jaemin.

Jaemin seems nearly  _ relieved  _ that Donghyuck has accepted the offer, and pulls away from him to lean down and settle against the ground. Jaemin lies there on his back, staring up at the mercury sky, and his chest, his stomach, his neck are all exposed. He'd be so easy to incapacitate like this, but Donghyuck's twitchy, flighty nature, the trigger finger voice in his head that's always urging him to do everything in his power to ensure his own safety in the game, to take out any potential threats before they can get to him, is - for once - silent.

Donghyuck lies down next to Jaemin, on the softened interior shell of the ward, as far away as he can in the limited space, and exhales. He's not going to hurt Jaemin, and something tells him Jaemin won't hurt him either. So he closes his eyes to the murky skies, to the cruel world of the game.

And Donghyuck slips into sleep.

It's still dark when Donghyuck jolts awake again. 

His back  _ aches,  _ and the muscles in his arms and legs - in his whole body, really - protest even the slightest movement as he flinches and his eyes fly open. At first, he can't tell what's awakened him, and he squints through the haze of the ward to try and make out something beyond that could have drawn him so abruptly from his sleep.

Then he turns his head to the side and sees that Jaemin is awake. Donghyuck can just make out the glint of moonlight in his eyes. Jaemin is looking right at him.

Donghyuck takes a short breath, feels his chest tighten as he opens his mouth to ask Jaemin what he's doing, when a shout echoes through the air. Donghyuck flinches again, moves to sit up and try to see what's going on outside the ward, but Jaemin is faster; one of his hands shoots out to grab Donghyuck's wrist, and he shakes his head.

_ "Don't move _ ," he whispers.

Donghyuck freezes. " _ What's out there?" _

Jaemin doesn't answer. His eyes flicker over Donghyuck's head, tracking something behind him, beyond the protection ward. Moonlight shines in his eyes, turns dark brown to a shade of almost silver again. Donghyuck can't look away.

The shout comes again, fainter than before, but Donghyuck still flinches.

" _ Other players _ ," Jaemin finally whispers, looking back to Donghyuck. "They were too close, and I couldn't see what they were running from."

Donghyuck swallows and nods. Of course Jaemin wouldn't want to compromise the location of his ward by potentially catching the eyes of passersby, or of any of the higher level monsters that spawn in the game. Donghyuck remembers in one of his training sessions years ago, he'd underestimated how long certain beasts could wait outside of protection wards, and had ended up trapped.

They can't let that happen here, in the real game.

"They gone?" Donghyuck asks after a painfully long minute.

"Yeah," Jaemin breathes, though his eyes lift back out to the night, straining to make out something else. "I never saw what they were running from," he mutters.

Whatever Donghyuck is about to say in response dies in his throat when he realizes he can see Jaemin's breath, curling towards him in a pale cloud. A second later, he feels a sharp chill race up his spine.

"Is it-"

The rest of Jaemin's question is drowned out by a deafening  _ crack _ . His grip on Donghyuck's wrist goes iron tight.

Donghyuck feels his eyes blow wide open as Jaemin starts to tremble again. This time, it's not from shock, though, because Donghyuck has to clamp his mouth shut to keep his teeth from chattering as a tremor shakes through him as well.

Panic wells up in him again, and he looks over Jaemin's shoulder to the lake that lies at the edge of the marsh. It's  _ frozen _ .

Donghyuck lets out a shaky breath and it turns to another soft cloud of white in the air by his lips. Wind whistles, howls lowly across the lowlands, and it cuts sharp as ice over Donghyuck's skin. In the distance, growing larger by the second, is a wall of darkness that moves like it’s a living thing. A massive stormcloud. 

Donghyuck presses in closer to Jaemin without thinking, lowers his gaze to meet Jaemin's wide eyes again.

"I think I know what they were running from."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i truly do not know what this is but im starting to think that this should just be a chaptered fic but it reallyyyyy wasn't _supposed _to be so call me boo boo the fool i guess. is anyone even reading this does anyone _want _Yet Another part?____


	3. Chapter 3

The game has a consciousness. A mind of its own.

Donghyuck knows this in his very bones as harsh winds strip the heat from his skin and leave him breathless. As the oncoming storm looms closer and closer, growing at an impossible speed.

"We can't stay here," he says, pushing himself up on stiff limbs and squinting against the sharpness of the wind.

Jaemin doesn't let his vice-like grip on Donghyuck go, but he follows Donghyuck's lead, wide-eyed and shivering. "The ward..."

Donghyuck shakes his head, eyes darting past Jaemin's face to the wall of darkness swallowing everything to the north. "It won't help. The natural disasters aren't technically  _ spawned  _ by the game. We have to  _ go _ ."

He doesn't wait for protest or assent from Jaemin. Donghyuck uses the hold Jaemin has on him to his advantage, steps out of the ward and drags him along. Jaemin stumbles after him, and Donghyuck hesitates just long enough to ensure that Jaemin won't lose his balance before taking off.

The sudden drop in temperature has turned the marsh cold and hard, and Donghyuck races across it without fear of his feet sinking into the mud and getting stuck. He knows he hasn't recovered enough from being chased by the spiders hours earlier to run like he needs to, can feel the ache and protest of his body as he forces himself to keep moving, but he doesn't have any other choice.

As they run, Jaemin nearly loses his grip on Donghyuck's wrist, and Donghyuck throws his hand back blindly to grab Jaemin's hand. He holds on tight; if he gets separated from Jaemin, he's not sure they'll be able to find each other again. It had been starting to grow lighter as night slipped into dawn, but the billowing clouds that have taken over the sky block out any trace of the coming light, and the world is cast in darkness. As the storm spreads, Donghyuck can barely see ahead of himself anymore.

Nevertheless, he runs.

Icy air cuts through his throat and sears the inside of his lungs, and it gets harder to breathe. Donghyuck can't get the words out to tell Jaemin where they're going (he barely knows himself) so all he can do is hope that the situation demands that Jaemin trusts him a little while longer.

Donghyuck doesn't dare turn his head to see how fast the blizzard is closing in on them, but he can feel it drawing nearer even as he pushes himself to run as fast as he can. His feet leave behind the uneven ground of the frozen marsh and land on grass so brittle it snaps and breaks underfoot. He can't hear his own breathing over the howling of the wind, can barely feel his own skin as it goes numb under the battery of the harsh winds.

He'd thought that the flooding of the lake at the start of the game had been bad - had certainly caught any unlucky players in the lowlands by surprise - but he'd escaped that disaster unscathed by sheltering in the hills. Now, though, he doesn't know if he'll get away so easily. The storm had looked like it was swallowing everything whole, not traveling across the map, but spreading over it, consuming it whole.

None of his training had been quite like this - he'd prepared for fighting, not fleeing - and now his body is bearing the burden. Every step he takes sends pain shooting up his legs, and he's terrified that at any moment, they'll simply give out under him.

As the air thins, though the temperature continues to drop, Donghyuck stops being able to see clouds of his breath. His chest heaves, but each breath he drags into his lungs seems to help less and less. He can feel himself slowing down, even though he knows it could get him killed.

They reach an incline, one of the hills that will take them out of the valley of the lowlands, and the strain increases. The world is turning to ice around him, but Donghyuck feels like he's on fire. The only thing keeping him grounded is the steel grip Jaemin has on his hand. Any time he slows too much, there's a sharp tug on his arm that drags him forward again.

_ Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. _

And so darkness falls, but Donghyuck doesn't. His brain is flooded with fear, with panic, but he tries to remember what he's mapped of the world so far. They've passed the lake, the marsh, the woods, the first rise of hills. His ward is somewhere up ahead, not that it will help them at all now.

_ But wait _ \- Donghyuck had scouted before placing his ward, hadn't he? He'd placed it under cover, near a maze of caves dug into the face of the mountains. He hadn't risked seeking shelter within the caves in case there were monsters lying in wait, but now the system of caves leading deep into the mountainside might be their only chance.

Donghyuck takes another deep breath, though it does little for him, and tries to keep his head from spinning. He can't get dizzy now, can't forget where he needs to go or stumble on the way there. He needs to remember which direction to run, needs to figure out how to  _ find  _ the mouth of a cave in the ever-deepening darkness.

Jaemin tugs on his hand again and Donghyuck pushes himself harder. Eyes narrowed to slits against the biting wind, he tries to make out their surroundings. They pass what he thinks is a grove of trees - if the tall, reaching shadows to his right are what he hopes they are - and then the land is bare again. They hit another upwards slope, and his map of the game world flashes in Donghyuck's mind again.

It doesn't feel like they're moving very far  _ or  _ very fast, but time is tricky, slippery. If he's right, they've just hit the second rise of hills, and have somehow put a good amount of distance between themselves and the marsh. Despite their attempts at fleeing, though, the storm doesn't tire like they do, and chases relentlessly after them, nipping at their heels like the wild, dual-headed dogs Donghyuck had fought on the second day of the competition. For every step they take, the storm seems to take two.

It's close enough now that they'll be swallowed in no time. And even if the storm doesn't snatch Donghyuck up first, exhaustion will. Even if the caves won't protect them from the blizzard, they're as far as Donghyuck will be able to. He's at his breaking point, right on the verge of crumbling.

"Up there!" Jaemin shouts over the screaming of the wind. Donghyuck can't see if or where he's pointing, but he can make out a deeper darkness up ahead than what they've been running through. Unlike the shifting, living wall of the storm, the darkness that lies before them is solid, still.

Finality sinks into Donghyuck's bones. It's the face of one of the mountains. Somewhere along it should be an entrance to one of the caves. Somehow, they've made it.

The revelation doesn't give Donghyuck a burst of energy, doesn't offer any extra strength to push him forward, but it keeps him from collapsing a few moments longer. He veers to the side, feels Jaemin adjust his course as well, and they run blindly towards the mountainside.

Donghyuck holds a shaking arm ahead of himself so he doesn't crash headfirst into stone and kill himself before the storm gets a chance to, and the second his palm slaps into a freezing, rough surface, he jerks to the side, dragging Jaemin with him. He runs his hand along the wall, scraping up his skin as he goes, but he can't even feel it. He's frozen through, almost entirely numb. The burn of tearing his skin is no different to the burn of the harsh wind he's already grown accustomed to.

Angled slightly to the side, he can finally see the billowing clouds of the storm. Even in the darkness, they're somehow  _ darker _ , a deep and pure black that makes Donghyuck's throat seize with terror. Just one look out of the corner of his eyes and he knows that nothing swallowed by that encroaching monster will survive.

When the rocky face of the mountain doesn't give way under Donghyuck's hand as he moves forward, doubt floods into his head.  _ What if there isn't a cave close enough? What if he can't find an entrance before it's too late?  _ He doesn't want to die like this, in the deepest black he's ever seen, freezing to his core until he's just another fallen stone in the dirt.

Respawning doesn't mean he won't feel his own death as if it's real.

He must get too distracted, too caught in his own head, because his feet catch on something he can't see, and he stumbles forwards. He falls, slapped to the side by a strong gust of wind, and he hits the hard rock wall of the mountain.

Fear swells in his chest and chokes him. His ears ring and he can't see. The air is punched out of his lungs and he can't  _ breathe _ . He tries to push himself up, but he can hardly tell any longer which way  _ is  _ up.

There's a loud crashing sound - must be deafening for him to hear it over the wind - and then everything falls away. The ground slips out from under Donghyuck's feet and he's peeled away from the rocks the wind had pinned him to.

If Donghyuck could breathe, he'd scream.

Instead, there's nothing.

The storm catches up to him and he feels ice wrap around him like it's alive, wants nothing more than to crush him in its grasp. He's blind. He can't breathe. He's falling. 

He's going to die.

But the ice doesn't hold him, doesn't crush him. As he falls, he falls out of its reach. As he falls, the storm can’t cling to him any longer, but something else can,  _ does _ . As he falls, he realizes he's not alone.

Through it all, he hasn't let Jaemin's hand go. Jaemin hasn’t let  _ him  _ go. So they're  _ both  _ falling, away from the storm and into something else. It's just as dark, but it's not alive. It's not trying to tear them apart just yet. By some miracle, they must have chanced upon a cave after all.

Donghyuck doesn't get the chance to feel any sort of relief, though. He doesn't fall for long before he hits something, and hits  _ hard. _ His back slams against solid rock, and white hot pain shoots through him. It's pitch black, but he sees bright spots of light before his eyes. His teeth slam together and his bones rattle, and it's not even the worst of it. What he's been thrown against isn't flat ground, but an incline.

Donghyuck hits rock and  _ keeps falling _ . He's aware of the first roll, of biting down on the inside of his cheek as it's dragged against the rough surface, of bitter copper spilling into his mouth and coating his tongue. He's aware of his shoulder slamming into the unforgiving ground and his arm jerking, and then it's all ripped away.

The storm doesn't swallow Donghyuck, but the darkness does.

Everything hurts. Hurts more than anything Donghyuck's ever felt before. He tries to move and then shoots the idea down in less than a second when it feels like lightning has shot through his whole body. Even dragging in a breath burns in his chest and makes his head pound. He can barely swallow, can force his eyes open only a sliver before it becomes too much.

None of his training prepared him for this. He probably should have known that his first real competition in the game would break him apart like this, even  _ expected  _ it, but he can't even think about how out of his own depth he is when simply being conscious is giving him a splitting headache.

A heavy breath rattles out of him, and he tries to take stock of things without moving. He can feel every inch of his body, though it's not exactly an improvement to the numbness that had dug its claws into him. He's not numb any longer, but he's still cold, still nearly frozen. He can breathe, but it  _ hurts,  _ and there's something pressing down on his chest and compressing his lungs.

He tries to crack his eyes open again, but there's little more than darkness to greet him when he finally gets his eyes half open. He can make out shadowed shapes, and nothing else.

Donghyuck lets his eyes fall shut again and focuses on his other senses. It's quiet, almost deafening after the howling of the wind. All he can hear is the distant scream of the storm, somewhere far above where he lies, somewhere far away. Other than that, there's just his own breathing echoing in the cavern. He takes another breath, this time through his nose, and holds it. He can't smell anything but damp, stale must. He can't smell anything, but he can still hear breathing.

It's like lightning strikes through Donghyuck again. Something  _ else  _ is breathing nearby. Something...no, some _ one. _

Donghyuck's brain catches up all at once, tripping and stumbling as he remembers just how he'd gotten here, tries to piece together all the information he has now without making his head ache any worse.

He flexes his left hand, grasping at air.

_ Jaemin _ . He's not holding onto him anymore. But if Jaemin's breathing, then he's alive.

Donghyuck's knuckles graze the cold ground as he tries to feel around, tries to see without looking whether Jaemin is close by. He tries to move his right hand as well, but even the slightest flinch makes his torn skin scream, and he sucks in a sharp breath at the flash of pain.

As Donghyuck's chest rises, it pushes against whatever lies atop him, pressing down on his torso and one of his legs. With another jolt, Donghyuck realizes this  _ thing  _ on top of him is soft, the warmest thing he can feel. His left hand stills. He doesn't  _ have  _ to search for Jaemin; he's right there.

Jaemin hadn't gotten away from him at all.

The realization calms something in Donghyuck. He knows Jaemin is still - technically - his competition, but he's  _ relieved _ . Against all reason, he's relieved that Jaemin is alive and with him. Even if they'll have to fight later on, even if it won't be too long before the reality of the game sets in on him, for now, relief floods through him.

Somehow, amongst all the chaos, it's nice to know that he's not alone. It makes him feel heavy, lowers his walls enough for exhaustion to wash over him once again. And lying there in the cold, in the dark, at the bottom of a maze of caverns and tunnels, Donghyuck knows he shouldn't succumb to the exhaustion, but the fight is gone from his body. He's done all he can for now. He can't do anything else but get swept away, dragged back under. 

He feels Jaemin shift against him, and then sinks into nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am gonna be so real i have no idea what im doing but i am doing it. this is kind of a mess bc i am Not feeling super hot today but i was compelled to write something so . this  
> still not 100% sure if this is gonna end up chaptered or what the deal is gonna be so for now it just is what it is i guess, but i probably will write at Least one more of these short chapters. probably.  
> thank u to everyone who left really nice comments on the last chapter ur literally The Reason i wrote this today


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> before u ask me why this accidentally ended up a little Too tender just know that i wrote this while listening to daylight by taylor swift so i cannot be held accountable for my actions <3 thank u & i hope u enjoy <3

_ Donghyuck... Donghyuck... _

Donghyuck's head aches, pounds, and the voice whispering to him sounds somehow too loud; it pierces through the dark clouds fogging his mind and opens him back up to the splitting pain of consciousness. He tries to groan, but he can barely move. He's not sure he even makes a sound.

_ Donghyuck _ , the voice comes again, insistent.  _ Donghyuck, wake up. You can't fall asleep now. _

Again, Donghyuck tries to fight the rise to clarity, ignore the contrast of his frozen skin and his burning body. But the voice calls his name again, and he can't resist it. He comes back to himself, starts to feel everything all over again: the bruises and the torn skin and the blood gone stale in his mouth.

It's too much. His head lolls to the side and he coughs, and the pain settled over him turns fresh, arcs through him like lightning as he spits copper onto stone. He tries to breathe, and there's still that  _ weight  _ on his chest that presses into him. He chokes as air rushes into his lungs, and the darkness at the backs of his eyes spots with white stars.

_ "Donghyuck!"  _ The insistence in the voice turns to panic, and the heavy thing dropped on top of him shifts. Donghyuck remembers again. Comes fully conscious all at once.

"Donghyuck," Jaemin breathes again, and this time the plea of his name is accompanied by tentative hands on his face.

For a split second, panic flares in Donghyuck, because he's battered and weak and  _ vulnerable,  _ and Jaemin could take advantage of this, could loot him of all his supplies and tools and leave him there to waste away in the frozen belly of a cavern until his first life line fades away and he reboots. But Jaemin's touch is careful, doesn't hurt Donghyuck any more than breathing does. Jaemin doesn't steal from him, doesn't leave him behind.

"Donghyuck," Jaemin says again. Again and again, like it's suddenly the only thing he knows how to say. "You have to wake up. You have to breathe."

Maybe it's the absurdity of it, the fact that Jaemin is helping him even though he should just be looking out for himself, the fact that somehow they've built a strange, fragile bond thanks to the harshness of the night, but Donghyuck listens. He fights to open his eyes once more, finds that there's more light in the cave than he'd remembered. There's something glowing nearby, and it's enough for him to make out the fuzzy image of Jaemin's face hovering over his own. He tries to speak, but something burns in his chest, and he gives up before he's made a sound.

Jaemin sees, though. He lets out a heavy breath like he's  _ relieved _ , and runs his thumb across Donghyuck's cheek. "You're gonna be okay," he says with too much certainty. There isn't enough light for Donghyuck to see Jaemin's eyes, but he can imagine them- those deep pools of something almost liquid under the moonlight, shining in the half-light. It startles him that he remembers.

Donghyuck takes another breath, and it rattles through him, tastes like metal. Every inch of him hurts so much he's not sure he'll be able to keep competing any time soon, not sure he'll be able to compete at  _ all  _ without just letting himself die so he can re-spawn. He's never been this thoroughly battered before, never had to pick himself up from something like this. He doesn’t know if he has the strength.

But he can tell that Jaemin is still looking at him, still plastered onto half his body like the fall had fused them together. It makes something more than just confusion flicker inside of him, and he clings to it to stay present.

"You need to drink this," Jaemin says, moving one hand from Donghyuck's cheek to try and display a vial in the weak glow of whatever's too far to Donghyuck's right to see.

Donghyuck stares at him, lets his eyes flicker to the vial and then right back to Jaemin. The sensible part of him wants to protest, knows that this  _ must  _ be a trick or a trap of some sort, but he's not sure what other options he has. It seems like he's on the very end of a shaking branch, and it's about to snap under him and send him hurtling towards his downfall no matter what he does.

"It's a healing potion I picked up on the first day," Jaemin explains. "I took some already, but you're worse off." He swallows. "I think you broke my fall. So you have to take this, okay? I don't want you to die because of me. I owe you for saving me again."

Donghyuck thinks that if this is a trick, if Jaemin's just acting, if he's  _ that  _ good at faking the concern in his voice, the gentleness of his touch, then maybe he deserves to pull one over on Donghyuck just this once.

It seems like trusting Jaemin wasn't simply a one time thing.

Donghyuck tries to say  _ okay _ , but it comes out as more of a groan than anything else. He doesn't know how to tell Jaemin that he can't move to down the potion himself.

At the emptiness of his response, Jaemin says, "I'll do it, if you can't. Just open your mouth for me. I won't force you or anything, if you're worried I'm lying. But I’m not."

Donghyuck exhales, feels his ribs ache at the movement. He looks at Jaemin and he has nothing to lose, so he parts his lips in as clear an acceptance as he can manage without moving or speaking.

Jaemin lets out another breath, relieved  _ again _ , but that could mean anything. He leans closer, uses the light hold he has on Donghyuck's face to tilt his jaw up just enough that he'll be able to drink. His hand is calloused, warm, gentle. Jaemin presses the vial to Donghyuck's lips, pours cold, flavorless liquid into his mouth to chase away the taste of blood, and then encourages Donghyuck's lips back together so he can swallow the potion.

Donghyuck keeps his eyes on Jaemin's all the while, keeps his focus on what he can make out of Jaemin's face. He's so close that Donghyuck can feel his breath, and then he's backing away, the vial empty and discarded on the ground off to the side.

The potion is cold on Donghyuck's tongue, but as it slips down his throat and spreads through him, it grows warmer. He can feel it travel through him, spreading through him like the blood rushing through his arteries, and though he half expects it to grow hot, burn him up from the inside out, it never does. There's nothing but the faint warmth twisting around inside of him, seeping pain out of his body wherever it reaches.

It comes and goes quickly, like smoke swept away by wind, but when it passes he can breathe, can move without screaming pain. He can speak.

Jaemin's hand is still on his cheek when Donghyuck asks, "Why did you help me?"

"Why did  _ you  _ help  _ me _ ?" Jaemin asks in return.

Donghyuck falls silent. The silence hangs between them, heavy, for a long moment.

"The storm is still out there," Jaemin says. "We're stuck."

Donghyuck swallows. He's better off now, yes, but he's not fully recovered. And the warmth from the potion had faded quickly, so the bitter cold of the cavern is sinking into him again. It's only a matter of time before he starts trembling, before his teeth start chattering, and the frozen air wraps its claws around him, sinks in its teeth.

Jaemin seems to be thinking the same thing, and Donghyuck realizes there's a reason Jaemin's body is pressed against his: it's not that Jaemin couldn't move away, but that he'd freeze if he did. The only heat in the rocky heart of the mountain is where their bodies touch.

"It'll probably get even colder," Donghyuck says.

Jaemin nods. "And we need to rest. We barely slept at all before the storm."

"Should we..." Donghyuck trails off.

"I think-" Jaemin hesitates "-I think we need to sleep together so we don't freeze.”

Donghyuck expects it, but it still makes the air thin in his lungs. It's one thing to lie beside Jaemin in the safety of his ward, but to sleep pressed against him...

Again, the part of Donghyuck that's trained for this ruthless game protests, but it's fruitless. Donghyuck's already let down his guard, already been stripped bare of all his defenses before Jaemin, just as Jaemin has for him. It would be more foolish to push him away now than to pull him closer to try and preserve the lives Jaemin's potion has brought back from the brink.

"Okay," Donghyuck says. There's really nothing else  _ to  _ say, not when Jaemin's chest already hovers over his, when their legs press together and Jaemin's hand is  _ still on Donghyuck's cheek _ .

Jaemin lets out a breath, and tension bleeds from his frame. He lifts his hand from Donghyuck's cheek after what feels like ages, and shifts beside him. Jaemin drops down onto his elbow and uses his right hand to nudge Donghyuck's chest.

"Can you roll over?" Jaemin asks.

Donghyuck stares up at the vast darkness hanging above him and inhales. He can move now; it should be fine. He twists, testing, all his weight pressing down onto his arm, but it’s  _ not  _ fine. A strangled gasp tears from his throat as pain wrenches through him, and he eases off his shoulder quickly, falls flat on his back again. "I don't think I can," he admits, teeth gritted.

"Okay," Jaemin says. And then he does the strangest thing: runs his right hand gently down Donghyuck's arm, just a light, ghostly touch, but it’s almost like he's trying to comfort him. "Can you move this arm?"

Donghyuck shivers, pulls his arm back and stretches it out across the cold ground. It aches, but doesn't send lightning crashing through him. "Yeah," he answers.

"Okay," Jaemin says again. "I'm just going to-" he cuts himself off, hesitant. "Just tell me whether this hurts?"

Donghyuck nods, and the next thing he knows, Jaemin is settling down against him. He leaves one arm lingering near his head, unsure of what to do with it, and lays the other carefully across Donghyuck's middle. More of his weight presses into Donghyuck's side, but Donghyuck can tell he's still holding himself up, testing the waters. Jaemin seems to pause here, waiting for Donghyuck to say something.

"It doesn't hurt," he says in a whisper, because all of a sudden his voice feels weak again.

"Okay," Jaemin says, voice strained. He lowers more of his weight into Donghyuck's side, until he's lying half on top of him again: his head just shy of resting on Donghyuck's shoulder, his torso curled around Donghyuck's side, their legs tangled together. It's almost the same as it'd been when Donghyuck came briefly to consciousness before, but it feels different this time.

Donghyuck is aware of more than just the encroaching cold, of more than just the pain crawling through him and threatening to consume him. Now he can feel the cold, yes, and still the dull throb from all his injuries, but all his focus is on the faint warmth of Jaemin's body growing stronger, on all the places where they touch, on the fact that he can't just hear Jaemin breathing, but can  _ feel  _ it too.

"Is this okay?" Jaemin asks, still in that strained voice.

"Yeah," Donghyuck says quietly. He doesn't look at Jaemin, keeps his eyes trained on the black ceiling, but he feels Jaemin nod. Feels Jaemin finally stop holding his head up, letting it fall. Donghyuck feels it rest against his shoulder, and is grateful that Jaemin is on his right so he can't feel the jackrabbit beat of his heart as it tries to run away from him, tries to pound out of his chest.

Everything in Donghyuck screams that this is too much, that he's too vulnerable now, that this is too fucking  _ intimate _ for a competition where they're risking their lives just for the chance of winning, but he tries to drown it out. What else can he do?

Besides, he thinks it must be just as bad for Jaemin- having to lay himself on top of Donghyuck and hold him like they  _ know  _ each other, like they're close. Having to rest his head on Donghyuck's chest and just stay there, curled into him.

But just as he thinks this, Jaemin shifts again, speaks. "Is it okay if I put my arm under your neck. It kind of hurts now."

Donghyuck blinks up at the darkness and says, "Okay, yeah."

He feels Jaemin's hand brush against his hair, and winces as he tries to lift his head so Jaemin can slip his arm under. In one swift motion, Jaemin's other hand lifts from Donghyuck's middle and curls over him, and he catches the back of Donghyuck's head, holding it up while he moves his other arm so it lies against Donghyuck's shoulders. As soon as he's done, he eases Donghyuck's head back down so it's half pillowed on Jaemin's arm. And then his hand slips away, returning to where it had rested on Donghyuck's middle just moments earlier.

"Thanks," Donghyuck mutters, embarrassed, and something else, something he can't quite figure out. He thinks it's probably better that he doesn't know.

Jaemin makes a small sound, quiet enough that it would have been lost if not for the utter silence in the cave.

Donghyuck realizes his right arm is still stretched out, lying on the ground where he'd let it rest after proving he could move it. The stone is cold under him, and burns at his skin where it's exposed, so he draws his arm back towards his body. Jaemin's in the way, though, so all Donghyuck can do is wrap his arm around Jaemin's back and let his hand grip loosely at the point where Jaemin's stomach lies over his own.

Jaemin makes another soft sound, and Donghyuck almost wishes the distant howling of the storm was louder, so that he wouldn't have heard. So that something wouldn't have sparked in him like two flintstones knocked together beneath his ribs.

He knows from his training, from his textbook knowledge of the game, that nothing good could come from growing attached to Jaemin, from keeping his walls down and letting anything get past them, letting anything worm through carefully constructed armor and take root inside of him. That's how players get taken apart. That's how you lose everything you've trained and sweat and bled and worked tirelessly for.

If he's not careful, if his luck runs out, that could even be how he dies.

So he stares up at the roof of the cavern, swallowed by shadow, and doesn't listen to the sound of Jaemin's breathing, doesn't think about the way Jaemin feels wrapped around him. It's just to survive, just so they can last to fight another day. This... companionship, partnership, can only last as long as it's beneficial for both of them. There's no way for it to live past that.

Donghyuck resists the urge to grit his teeth, and instead exhales slowly through his nose, letting his eyes fall shut. This is just fleeting. This is just temporary.

Sooner or later, Jaemin will leave.

It doesn't make the dull ache centered in Donghyuck's chest worsen. 

It doesn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this wasnt ever really meant to have more than the first chapter but i wanted to explore it a bit more from there and maybe one day i'll come back to this bc there's a lot more fun stuff i can think of but for now its finished :/ sorry


End file.
